Good day to everyone. As I am sure you are aware, War Thunder patch 1.71 was released on the 19th of September. In this series of articles I will be covering the content and features included in ‘The New Era”, starting with the aircraft. So in these reviews I will be giving a brief overview of the aircraft and their stats.
USA:
F4U-4/F4U-4B:
This new pair of planes is the final upgrade to the famed Corsair series. The F4U-4 is the machine gun armed variant of the two, with 6x 12.7mm MGs and a BR of 5.3. Then following it immediately in the line is the F4U-4B which is the same airframe but armed with 4x 20mm cannons and a BR of 5.7. Both of these planes come with an option of a pair of 500lb, a pair of 1000lb or 8 HVAR rockets. Both of these planes are a classic examples of the boom and zoom with the top speed of 711 km/h being on the F4U-4. While not necessary per say, they do provide a nice transition from the earlier Corsairs into the F8F series.
Stock stats (F4U-4):
Max speed: 663 km/h
At height: 9000m
Max altitude: 11500m
Turn time: 21.7 seconds
Rate of climb: 14.2 m/s
Takeoff run: 200m
Stock stats (F4U-4B):
Max speed: 645 km/h
At height: 5000m
Max altitude: 11500m
Turn time: 21.7 seconds
Rate of climb: 14 m/s
Takeoff run: 200m
P-51 H-5 NA:
The long awaited P-51 H series has finally come to War Thunder and it is a must get. With a top speed of 760 km/h you will struggle to find a prop using opponent who will be able to match it. However there lies the issue, armed with the classic 6x 12.7mms and a BR of 6.7 you are going to be facing a lot of early Jets including the Me 262, Meteor and MiG 9s to name a few. In these sorts of situations however the manoeuvrability of the new P-51 will be more than enough to keep you out of the enemies gun sights. The P-51 H-5 also comes with a respectable assortment of ground attack capabilities which include 100lb, 250lb, 500lb and 1000lb bombs and minus the 1000lb bombs these can all be accompanied by 6x HVAR or M8 rockets.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 714 km/h
At height: 7000m
Max altitude: 13000m
Turn time: 20.7 seconds
Rate of climb: 12.1 m/s
Takeoff run: 396m
A-26 B-10:
This new addition to the attacker line is the predecessor to the B-50 variant and while it lacks 8 of the B-50s 14x 12.7mms it is nothing to be laughed at. This plane has a an option to change it armament with 2 less MGs at 4x 12.7mms and a 37mm cannon mounted in the nose and has an ordnance choice of 16x 100lb, 12x 250lb, 10x 500lb and 4x 1000lb bombs. The defensive armament is decent for an attacker of it’s tier armed with 2 turrets, ventral and dorsal, armed with 2x 12.7mms that will help deter any would be pursuers. With a BR of 5.0 this will be placed in late Rank 3 and Early Rank 4 battles which will allow it to wreak havoc in mixed battles.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 541 km/h
At height: 4573m
Max altitude: 8000m
Turn time: 32.1 seconds
Rate of climb: 9.8 m/s
Takeoff run: 1000m
XA-38 Grizzly:
This is the new premium to grace the American tree. This plane is very much the American version of the Hs-129 B-3 armed with a 75mm cannon and 2x 12.7s in the nose of the aircraft and a BR of 4.7. This plane also offers decent crew protection against small calibre aircraft weapons with armour up to 38mm in the form of bullet proof glass. Aside from it’s offensive armament it shares the defensive capabilities of the A-26 in the form of a pair of 2x 12.7mms. To top up it’s capabilities it comes with the option of either 4x 100lbs, 4x 250lbs or 4x 500lbs. In terms of price it is one of the cheaper tier IV premiums at a cost of 3850, though with this price you get the same research bonus of 332% and a credit bonus of 540%.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 528 km/h
At height: 4573m
Max altitude: 8000m
Turn time: 30.1 second
Rate of climb: 8.7 m/s
Takeoff run: 700m
Germany:
Unfortunately for all German aviation fans this patch has been a disappointment as the long awaited Heavy Bombers like the Do-19 and the He-177 have yet to appear.
USSR:
SU-6 (AM-42):
This new addition to the Soviet Attackers is the inline engine variant of the SU-6 and it hosts the same capabilities the only major differences of this plane is the option to replace it’s 2x 37mms for 2x 23mms, outside of that it retains the 2x 7.62mms and its 12.7 defensive turret and the same ordnance selection. Expect more of the same with this one albeit with a slightly lower BR of 5.0. As such it can be seen as an unnecessary burden to those looking to get the IL-28 as it adds nothing new to the Russian attacker line.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 472 km/h
At height: 1400m
Max altitude: 6000m
Turn time: 28.1 seconds
Rate of climb: 7.6 m/s
Takeoff run: 800m
Be-6
The Be-6 is the more interesting addition to the Soviet tree. This float plane is only part of a bundle and will set you back €29.99. As for it’s capabilities, it has a very impressive defence of one 23mm cannon turret in the nose and a pair of 2x 23mm turrets in the dorsal and tail regions. As for it’s ordnance it comes with 4 presets: 8x FAB 250, 2x 450mm torpedoes, 8x FAB 500 and 2x FAB 1500. When the ships finally enter public testing this plane will be the bane of the seas.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 385 km/h
At height: 2135m
Max altitude: 6100m
Turn time: 30.1 seconds
Rate of climb: 7.2 m/s
Takeoff run: 1000m
United Kingdom:
Hornet Mk III:
The only addition to the British tree is the Hornet, the final evolution of the Mosquito line. This plane comes armed with 4x 20mms and a BR of 5.7. This heavy fighter has a top speed of 760 km/h and a minimum climb rate of 19.2 m/s and has all the qualities of an excellent boom and zoom plane. To add to this it has a respectable ground attack capability which includes 2x 500lb, 2x 1000lb, 8x AP Mk I, 8x AP Mk II and 8x RP-3. However it should be noted that its plywood composition is it’s major weakness, for a solid burst from any cannon will damage your surfaces to such an extent you will be put out of the fight quite easily.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 698 km/h
At height: 5791m
Max altitude: 11500m
Turn time: 27.5 seconds
Rate of climb: 19.2 m/s
Takeoff run: 500m
Japan:
D4Y2/D4Y3:
For the Japanese carrier based attackers we get the successors to the D3A series of dive bombers. In War Thunder they come with a better payload including 250kg and 500kg bombs and the ability to carry 4x Type 3 rockets on the D4Y2. As for the offensive and defensive armament it is nothing special, being 2x 7.7mm offensive on both and a 7.7mm turret on the D4Y2 and a 13mm turret for the D4Y3. The main difference in the planes themselves is the powerplant, with the D4Y3 being the radial variant and the D4Y2 equipped with an inline engine. With BRs of 3.3 (D4Y2) and 3.7 (D4Y3) form a nice transition from the B5N2 into the tactics and speeds common with the B7A2.
Stock stats (D4Y2):
Max speed: 542 km/h
At height: 5250m
Max altitude: 9800m
Turn time: 24.5 seconds
Rate of climb: 7.7 m/s
Takeoff run: 300m
Stock stats (D4Y3):
Max speed: 529 km/h
At height: 6050m
Max altitude: 9800m
Turn time: 23.4 seconds
Rate of climb: 5.6 m/s
Takeoff run: 350m
Ki-109:
The final addition for Japanese aviation in 1.71 is a bit of a unique one. We have a newcomer to the interceptor line in the form of the Ki-109, a conversion of the Ki-67 armed simply with a 75mm cannon and a sole 12.7mm MG as it’s method of defence. This plane is an excellent attacker and if your aim is up to the task you can do some efficient bomber hunting with the 75mm. However, due to the lack of other offensive and a major lack of defensive armament it is a sitting duck against fighters and other interceptors, especially with a BR of 4.7 which will place you against planes such as the P-47N-15 and Yak 3s.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 515 km/h
At height: 6050m
Max altitude: 9300m
Turn time: 21.8 seconds
Rate of climb: 8.4 m/s
Takeoff run: 650m
Italy:
S.81:
For the latest nation in the game we have one new reinforcement. The S.81 is Italy’s latest addition to it’s bomber line taking up the starting position with a BR of 1.3. It has a decent bombload for it’s tier like it’s successor the BR.20 DR. It’s bombload includes 4 presets: 28x GP 50 bombs, 16x GP 100 bombs, 4x GP 250 bombs and finally 4x GP 500 bombs. Defence is not too bad either with a total of six 7.7 MGs, two in the ventral and dorsal positions and 1 on each waist blister. The main downside to this plane is what it can face, for anything with 12.7s or the low tier Hurricane Mk 1/L will shred the airframe to pieces. It should also be noted that losing an engine on the plane will lead to, for the most part, a catastrophic loss of horsepower.
Stock stats:
Max speed: 310 km/h
At height: 4000m
Max altitude: 6800m
Turn time: 31.3 seconds
Rate of climb: 3.9 m/s
Takeoff run: 450m
Now with all the aircraft covered we shall move onto the ground forces on Monday. Hope all of you enjoy your weekend and have a nice Saturday.
Billy
no matter what reasons/excuses they might use you CANNOT call the very first update after the addition of the Italian Aviation TT successefull if you only add 1 aircraft for it and a RESERVE BR at that
the 3 Japanese “ground attack” aircraft were obviously needed, for both air battles and combined ones
the P-51H has been long requested by most of the players that know at least a little bit about military aviation, a good addition
the F4U’s are definitly interesting but if you ask the players I believe that close to half of them would want to see variants of the P-40, F4F, F6F, SBD, TBF or A-20 before seeing more variants of the F4U
Be-6, they promissed every nation would get it’s own set of amphibious aircraft for the floats events, I doubt they were expecting that the German and Soviet flying-boats would be added as premiums, but then again they have been becoming more and more greedy
the Su-6 is the proof of Gaijin’s sense of “humor”, they have promised time and time again to add variants of many highly requested low BR aircraft, such as the P-40’s, yet nothing has been done, yet they add a second variant of a SOVIET aircraft just 2 or 3 updates after the addition of the first variant, a matte of months for something that there was not really a need compared to years others have been waiting for a P-40K or SBD-6
btw, take a look at the official wiki and how many aircraft or ground vehicles are listed for each country, then taking in consideration availability give your opinion on which nations are needing new additions the most
AIR
sov: 141
ger: 128
us: 106
brit: 90
jap: 84
ita: 36
GF
sov: 99
ger: 85
us: 72
brit: 52
jap: 37
besides Japan and Italy there’s no reason for there to be such a difference between the top nation and the rest, at least while there are still options available to add for the other nations, especialy since by doing this they created a few BR gaps where the soviets overwhelm the opposition, one of those is BR2.3 with T-28’s, T-70/80, etc…
another is BR5.3, they can make a full lineup (including premiums) with soviet 5.3 but the other nations can at most put 3 together (only the US with the M18 and premium M18), all of the rest have 2 or even 1 in the case of the Japanese, given that a BR”.3″ faces other “.3” and “.7” vehicles, it means that to play with the other nations with a full lineup you will fill in the gaps with 5.0 or even 4.7, this means that at BR5.3 players with soviet vehicles end up facing a lot of lower BR adversaries, it is definitly “strange” for there to be such a convinient gap in BR at where the soviets can play with vehicles such as KV-2, KV-85, T-34-85, SU-85, etc…
WT needs to have fighter only games and ground only games. No sense to pit fighters against bombers ALL the time. Let attackers face off ground AA for a change.
Billy if you need any help with the Submarine thing let me know, I’m an ex Submariner.